Fireflies
by cupidity11
Summary: Dib glanced around at his surroundings once more, making sure there was nothing that he'd missed. A last glance at the hastily carved symbols before he began walking back in the direction he'd come. The whispering slowly faded the further away he got. Well, most of the whispers did. A few still came from the jar in his hand.


For Angel-Aubade who made the cover and got me going. A.N.: If I make a mistake let me know. I've been wanting to do a fic like this pretty much since I first got into IZ but, I never really quite had the motivation or the time to do it. It was one of those 'once I get the proper writing skills then I can do it' but, I had a few people say they really liked the idea and one person who REALLY liked the idea drew fanart for it before it was even done and I guess that pushed me finally to do it and I finished it in 2 days...aaahh. Anyway, I hope you like it.

* * *

Dib wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead before they managed to get in his eyes and briefly considered taking off his trench coat since it was 70 degrees outside (ridiculous since it was 6 o clock in the evening) before discarding the idea. The trek had been a bit of a trying one. He'd never liked hiking or mountains.

But, unfortunately it was an occupational hazard since lots of paranormal creatures made their homes in inhospitable environments. He'd been walking up this trail for a good half an hour. Out of breath, he stopped for a break, leaning against a tree. The paranormal investigator took a swig of water, and fished out the note that was paper clipped to his map, out of his pocket to give it another glance.

'Your soul is bright. We are also bright. We can be friends.'

And there had been coordinates which he'd looked up on the town map. It was located somewhere in these mountains, not near any known landmarks. It was suspicious and Dib hadn't considered coming because what kind of moron responds to weird notes? But, as he'd done a bit of research on the location there had been several reports of forest fires and general disturbances. So, his curiosity was peaked and now here he was.

According to his map, he was getting pretty close. Satisfied, Dib shoved both map, note and water bottle into his coat pockets and kept walking. Another ten minutes passed and it was getting much darker as the sun faded behind the horizon. The trees just in front of him were pretty dense, covered in vines and he had to fight to get through them.

Then he was in a clearing. The breath left him because it was, well in a word, beautiful.

The trees surrounded it, hiding it perfectly from the rest of the world. The area was filled with tall grass, somewhere nearby, water ran. The most impressive part by far though was the fireflies. He'd seen them before of course. But, only once during a trip to Ohio for a science convention, where there hadn't been many buildings. They lit up the clearing. There had to be thousands of them, harmlessly flying about or landing to perch. They were quite busy and a soft buzz filled the air.

Dib had no idea places like this still existed. This was story book stuff. Someplace beautiful and untouched by humanity. He finally stopped staring like an idiot and walked forward closer into the clearing, watching closely for anything suspicious or noteworthy, pulling out his flashlight just in case.

This was far from what he'd expected. Maybe an abandoned building or a cave? He wandered a bit, and realized that the clearing led into yet another clearing and then another, they were connected. Eventually Dib found the running water and spent a good few minutes inspecting that. The hum of fireflies carried over the brook. It was a constant white noise that he had been growing used to when the Whispers started. The buzzing began to form words, like children talking from far away.

_'I wish I had a balloon.'_

_'Time is funny.'_

Dib chewed on the inside of his cheek. The whispers didn't freak him out. They were fairly normal to him because he'd been hearing them all his life. It seemed like everywhere he went they were there, speaking to him through tiny voices. There was his great uncle, who he honestly had never met before but, who let them use his cabin. It had a little pond behind it and the water would tell him stories and beg him to swim. He'd never done it for obvious reasons. Or the leaves in trees that shook on windy days, with riddles and rhymes. Or sometimes as the snow fell during the cold winter months, he could hear the softest melody emanating from the ice crystals.

No, the whispers didn't disturb him. But, to have them be here…that was what weirded him out. Was it a coincidence? Or a clue to why to he was here?

Dib stood up from his crouched position by the brook and turned to head back towards the 1st clearing. Several of the insects flew startlingly close to his face and he gently swatted them away, only to have them replaced with several other ones. Dib scowled and was a bit more violent with his movements. Soon they surrounded him and he paused in his swatting because they'd bothered to show him the way. They'd been trying to get his attention. There was a little firefly pathway leading into the trees towards who knew where. Huh.

Dib was caught between his curiosity and natural caution. As per usual, the curiosity won and he followed the insects whose lights seemed to brighten with his decision. The whispers bled together until it was a cacophony of words. He followed the trail through a thick barrier of trees that he never would've thought to have gone through that led to a path. It stretched on for around ten minutes in which he did his best to ignore the murmurs and focused on the dancing insects instead, wondering where they were leading him.

They stopped and lit up the end of the path; a large tree that Dib would've found it hard to wrap his arms around, in the center of several stone slabs. The strangest part about it was the symbols, carved into all the surfaces; wood and stone. His breath caught in his throat and Dib held his flashlight up to the symbols to get a better look. There were several different signs. None that looked like anything he'd ever seen before. Some were mere dots, others spirals or things that looked like eyes. A shiver ran down his spine that he resolutely ignored. At the top, the marks were neat and determined but, the lower down they went, the messier they became and at the very bottom they were hardly there at all.

Hesitantly, the teenager reached out to touch the nearest slab. The stone wasn't as cold as he'd expected it to be. It actually felt quite warm. He traced several of the strange markings, mind running at a thousand miles a minute with questions. This was why he was here, obviously. What was this? Who had sent him that note? Were they friend or foe? Maybe they knew he could handle this and figure out what was going on. Dib took out his camera from his backpack and snapped several pictures. Maybe he could decode the strange cyphers.  
After taking more pictures than he probably needed to, Dib put the camera away in its designated safe place (he was NOT losing another one, this was #87 and he was keeping it).

The fireflies, now having had done their duty apparently, buzzed around freely. Now that he was sure that nothing too dangerous was going on, he felt himself relax and watch them. It brought back memories from that trip to Ohio. It was one of the rare times that they'd been together as a family without the barriers of science or paranormal or anger. They'd had to stop at the side of the road for the night, since his dad was tired and there was no close by motel.

Dib had been napping in the backseat and when he'd opened his eyes blearily there'd been tons of the light bugs. He'd asked what they were and Membrane had given him a long, but still interesting explanation; fireflies talk to each other with light, they live in warm places with water nearby, they're carnivorous and occasionally cannibalistic, their eggs glow and they're helpful to the scientific and medical community. But, by that time, Dib wasn't listening anymore. He'd unbuckled himself and escaped the confines of the vehicle to get a closer look.

Dib stared at several that had drifted closer, curious about the new comer. He could relate. A small smile lifted the corners of his mouth. He lifted a hand and held it still near the insect for a few seconds before it decided to follow through on its inquisitiveness and landed on his index finger. He brought it closer to his face. The little bug's wings twitched and the whisper it emitted was asking question upon question.  
Dib knelt to dig into his backpack, careful not to disturb the little bug. He pulled out a jar he kept for specimens that he might come across during his investigations that needed to be studied in the lab in his basement. This time however…

He unscrewed the lid using a bit of maneuvering and looked up at his other hand only to find that it was now host to not just one but, three of the bugs. He smiled and stuck his hand into the jar, wiggling his fingers a bit until they dislodged. He quickly re-screwed the lid and admired his catch. He would have to poke holes in the top and add a damp paper towel when he returned home.

Dib glanced around at his surroundings once more, making sure there was nothing that he'd missed. A last glance at the hastily carved symbols before he began walking back in the direction he'd come. The whispering slowly faded the further away he got. Well, most of the whispers did. A few still came from the jar in his hand;  
_'Fire is dangerous'_  
_'What's that sound?'_  
_'It's so bright, I can't sleep'_  
-

Before he went to bed, the holes were popped in the top of jar and a small, damp towel placed in the corner. The fireflies flutter around happily from their place on his windowsill. He lied down in his bed and watched them until his eyelids grew heavy. Tomorrow he would try to uncode the pictures of those symbols. Tomorrow he would figure out this newest mystery. A tingle of anticipation ran down his spine as he drifted to sleep.

He dreamed. Of earth from outer space, spinning calmly with its blue oceans and brown land. Dib watched with a sort of ambivalence. He could see the bright lights of cities and the smog they gave off. Humanity at its finest. But, how could he hate such a place when it was also host to ghosts and goblins?

Then there was a flash, one that left him blinded, disoriented and when he opened his eyes again, the entire planet was on fire. It shined, whirls of smoke making the surface hazy. But, he could feel the heat as it radiated. The land was on fire, the cities and the oil slicked ocean burned. He couldn't hear because it was space but, if he could all the humans would be screaming.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something glowing. Not a star but, a firefly. Dib's brows furrowed as it hovered in the crushing pressure of space. He turned toward the earth again and they watched it burn together.

Dib woke up sweating. He threw his covers off and stumbled to the bathroom. Weird dreams weren't abnormal. But, they rarely had a physical effect on him. Cold water helped as he stood under the shower's spray. He often dreamed about wendigos eating strangers in the middle of the woods or two headed creatures that chanted riddles in the middle of ivy covered labyrinths but, he couldn't let himself think on them too much or he'd drive himself mad. So, after his shower he banished the image of his planet a burning inferno, in favor of a big glass of orange juice and toast as he settled at his desk. In one hand Dib held the cup of OJ to his lips and the other shook the computer awake.

His desktop showed the last pages he'd been on; recent sightings of Bigfoot and several creepypasta stories just because he'd felt whimsical. He closed out of them and opened up the Swollen Eyeball Network, to check if anything new had come up. A few faked images of giant bat people, some suspicious gnome activity and slime creature that was obviously just some gross grease/fat mixture. He grunted disappointedly.

Now to check up on Zim. The cameras he had set up in the alien's base showed him Gir who was eating a bright pink confection. Some kind of frosting maybe? Zim was probably down in his laboratory. Damn. That was the one place he'd not managed to get a camera in yet. Yet. Dib swallowed back the remainder of his orange juice and slid his chair over to his bag. He dug inside until he had his camera #87. He plugged it into his computer.

Dib downloaded the images taken from last night and set about researching the odd symbols. After finding nothing of importance on his own, he submitted the images to several of his favorite (and most reliable) paranormal sites to see if anyone had ever come into contact with anything like them.

Dib ate his toast and spun in his chair, impatiently. He looked over at the fireflies. They were clinging to the sides of the glass, flashing as they talked to each other. He could hear them, tinny voices. But, they…sounded louder than yesterday. At least he thought so. Hmm.

Dib chewed on the last of his toast as he turned back to stare at the pictures of those symbols. They disturbed him. He couldn't understand why, though. Maybe it was because there were really only seven of them but, they were repeated over and over again. As though whoever (or whatever) had made them did so mindlessly. He found himself staring at them, unblinking in thought.

The paranormal investigator jumped a bit when the little 'ding' alerted him that someone had responded to his submission on one of the sites.

_Has anyone seen or heard about these symbols before? I found them on a rock in an forest clearing near my town. Minor reward for any HELPFUL information.—AgentMothman (9:42AM, May 13th)_

_Yeh ive seen those be4.—2spooky4u (9:58AM, May 13th)_

_Where?—AgentMothman (9:59AM, May 13th)_

_in a book. an old 1 tht my gpa used to hve.—2spooky4u (10:01AM, May 13th)_

_What book?—AgentMothman (10:01AM, May 13th)_

_its a long title and its got no author and its in some weird language'—2spooky4u (10:03AM, May 13th)_

_That's fine. –AgentMothman (10:04AM, May 13th)_

_εκδίκηση του πυολίκαμπίες –2spooky4u (10:10, May 13th)_

_Thanks. –AgentMothman (10:11AM, May 13th)_

_do I get the reward?—2spooky4u (10:12AM, May 13th)_

_Give me your PayPal. –AgentMothman (10:13AM, May 13th)_

-  
After wiring the stranger 25$, Dib went about searching for that book. He found out the first word meant revenge in Greek. The second was 'of the', but the 3rd word was nonsense. It was garbled and came out like 'pyolikampies' which wasn't a word and he regretted sending that stranger any money whatsoever. He flopped backwards into his chair, frustrated. And without the last word, nothing of use came up in his search.

He spent the rest of the afternoon, trying random words in the place of the gibberish to see if that helped. Revenge of the tree, revenge of the symbols, revenge of the stone slabs, revenge of the clearing in the forest, revenge of the stupid note, revenge of the bright light. He stopped for a break and food around 2. Then had to do homework for Ms. Bitters. When he was done with that, it was 6 o clock and time for dinner. Gaz made Mac and Cheese. He ate while he thought, staring out the window. She had perfected the art of eating and playing her video game at the same time, so as usual it was quiet at their table. It allowed him to continue putting words in the blank spot in his mind.

Dib cleaned his bowl and turned on the TV to watch Mysterious Mysteries. It was a re-run but, they made him feel a bit less lost since he could deduce what was going to happen next. By 8 o clock he was back upstairs, lying on his bed, with a print out of the symbols. When he blinked they remained burned into his corneas. He sighed and let the picture fall to the floor. Dib glanced over at the jar of fireflies. Their whispers were growing louder. That was for sure, the words were more distinct. But, strangely that didn't alarm him. Dib actually found it comforting in a way.

_'Keep the door open a crack'_  
_'No more goodbyes'_  
_'Sweet dreams'_  
-

He didn't remember falling asleep. Dib sat up in the hazy dream world and looked around. It was the clearing. But, unlike before with the large, green trees and calm blades of tall grass waving in the breeze…everything was on fire. He stood and looked around. Everything. He turned and gasped. The stone slabs along with the tree were there but, a hooded man was here as well. Dib's brows furrowed and he took several steps forward to get a closer look.

The man had managed to carve the first several rows of the symbols with a chisel. But, it was broken and lying to the side. Now, he was using a knife, frantically scratching the letters into place. Dib dared to step even closer to watch. The stranger was mumbling something in another language, eyes blood shot and ringed with purple, like he hadn't slept in days.

Things sped up and Dib could see as the knife grew dull and then snapped. The man, with hardly a second's contemplation reached beside himself and picked up a wooden stick. He was more than halfway done.

Dib imagined that the man spent hours trying to carve those marks with just a wooden stick that broke only to be replaced by another but for some reason the symbols were carved fairly easily. Maybe some kind of magic? Luckily, Dib didn't have to watch all those hours in real time as the dream sped by until the last stick broke and the man had nothing else to carve with. He still had a line to go, what was he going to…Oh.

The man began to scratch the ciphers on with his nails. Until the skin wore away and then he used his bones. He kept muttering those words, his tone of voice never changing or hitching in pain. The blood was washed away by the rain that had come suddenly and the dream began to warp like paper in water. But, the mad muttering of that language kept going and going and-

It was coming from his own lips. Oh god. Dib's eyes snapped open and he was shaking. He'd been saying those things. Blankly, he realized that he was leaning against the headboard of his bed and that his hands hurt. Swallowing, the teen looked down and found his nails bleeding. No. They were covered in splinters.

Dib backed up and stared at the wooden headboard of his bed. Those symbols. He'd carved them in his sleep. The panic broke past the numbness. "Oh. Oh my god." He scrambled off his bed, knocking over his table in the process. The sound of his lamp shattering sounded so far away. He stared at his hands and saw the blood oozing past the splinters. He had to clean them. Or else infection would set in. "No. No."

Suddenly it was hard to breathe. What's going on? What's happening? Why had he done that? Who was that man? What the fuck are these symbols? His head snapped up as he heard the fireflies whisper from their jar.

_'It's okay'_  
_'You'll be fine'_  
_'We'll help you'_

And stupidly enough, some of his panic disappeared. He knew it shouldn't. But, their voices were soothing. Dib stumbled into his bathroom. The blood ran down the sink and he used a pair of tweezers to pick out splinter after splinter. It would be okay. He would figure this out. Whatever it was, was obviously messing around with him. Well, he was Agent Mothman. He was a damn good paranormal investigator and he'd earned his name. Whatever was going on, he could handle it. He'd be fine. They'll help me. Who?

He picked the last splinter from his finger and covered them all in bandages. No one. He was tired. It was time to go to school. He numbly got dressed and put all his stuff he'd need for a Monday into his backpack on autopilot. A glance at the clock before he left showed that he'd gotten his 8 hours of sleep. It felt like he hadn't slept at all.

Gaz handed him a pop tart. He took it and opened it without comment. They walked to school the same way they had for the last 9 years. The trees shook in the morning breeze and above them he heard the voices, whispering incoherently but, they were there. How? The fireflies weren't with him. How could their voices reach this far? Surely, they would fade eventually.

They pushed open the doors to the school and were hit with all the sensations that came with public education; loud voices, yelling, screaming, chatting and laughing. Papers rustling and being shoved into backpacks that zipped open and close, lockers slamming shut.

And yet…even then he could hear it. The faint whispering that seemed to come from everywhere all at once.

_'Fire, yes…fire.'_  
-

School was predictable enough that he didn't feel the need to pay attention. The packet they were supposed to be filling out about the black plague was instead covered in doodles. Well, not so much doodles as those ciphers, over and over again. He didn't even really notice that he was doing it until Ms. Bitters barked at him for not paying attention.

Dib snapped out of it. He had to shake off this feeling. He forced himself to shed the numbness that had been surrounding him since this morning. No freaking out but, there was something weird and awesome going on. He had to discover it and in order to do that he couldn't allow himself to go into shock.

His hands hurt. Oh well. Dib crunched up the packet of doodles and stuffed it into his backpack. He allowed himself to glance over at his enemy; Zim was oblivious as ever, staring intently down at the packet, looking faintly nauseous. No doubt the idea of the black plague was quite horrifying to a germaphobe like him. So, he probably wasn't doing actual work but, was making horrible drawings of the earth exploding or something.

Dib looked away, down at his hands, the blood stained bandages. He had to come up with a plan. Tonight he would go back to the clearing; he would find that stupid Greek book and everything would be fi—

Something sharp and painful hit the back of his neck. Dib slapped a hand to the area to protect it and to stop the sudden sting. He whirled around to see several kids stifling their giggles. He looked for the offender and found a sharply folded piece of paper. A hornet, they were called. Designed to be flung from a rubber band. His eye's narrowed as he picked it up and looked back at the laughing bunch to see Torque Smacky, nonchalantly spinning a rubber band around his finger, a huge malicious grin on his face.

Dib scowled and tossed the hornet aside. This wasn't new, nothing to be too upset over. It was a small offense, he told himself. Don't react or they'll just do more. But, deep inside he added it onto the pile of resentment towards his peers.

Normally, he would ignore such juvenile behavior because they were stupid teenagers and he knew that not everyone could be as smart as he was. But, for some reason the small jolt of anger that he'd felt, that sharp pain stayed in him. Try as he might, there was no suppressing it.

It rose and stuck in his throat. He wanted to turn around and scream at them, punch that smug grin off Torque's neanderthal face. He was shaking.

_'They've hurt you. They've hurt us too.'_  
_'It's okay. They'll pay.'_  
_'They'll burn.'_

The bell rang and he rushed out before anyone else could even move. He had to get out of here. The air was suffocating him. Something horrible was happening to him. Everything around him made him mad. Dib swallowed back the anger and kept going towards the exit. People were getting in his way. 'Move!' he wanted to scream. But, instead he just shoved through them, ignoring their insulted yells.

"Hey! Hey! Dib-brain! Hey, Diiiiiiib~" Oh no. That voice. Must keep going. Before he caught up. "Hey, stupid head! DIB!" Zim was getting closer; the loud mouth must be running after him. Dib growled low in his throat and broke out into a sprint. Well, he almost did. A gloved hand closed around his wrist, another one grabbed his backpack. "You've been acting weird today, stupid head, what are you up t—"

Without even thinking about it, Dib whirled on him and punched the irken right in the middle of his face. If he'd been a human it would've broken his nose. Instead, though Zim went stumbling backwards, releasing the teen and falling to the floor, stunned. They hadn't hit like that since the beginning of their rivalry.

The irken blinked in awe, fighting back pained tears. He looked up at the human who was staring at his fist in his own sort of awe. They remained like that for a few seconds before, Dib gave Zim one last glance (in which their eyes met in confusion and fear) before running off, disappearing in the crowd. The same crowd walked around Zim, who stood up slowly, pressing a hand to his face. His upper lip was bleeding.

What on irk?

Dib ran all the way home. Then fumbled with his key as he tried to open the door because he was shaking so hard. When the door finally opened, he stumbled inside, breathing heavily. He threw his backpack away, somewhere and climbed the stairs mindlessly. Inside his room he could hear the fireflies, whispering to each other and to him. He walked over to the windowsill where the jar stood, unassuming and unthreatening.

Their lights were dimmer, he thought, distantly. Were they dying? He should release them. Bugs weren't meant to stay in jars no matter how pretty. He reached out to open the container and woke up on his bedroom floor.

Dib stared at the darkness under his bed. Why was he down here? Slowly, cautiously he sat up. Nothing was injured. What the hell? Swallowing back his nausea, Dib stood and-

_'It's okay.'_  
_'You're fine.'_  
_'We'll make them pay.'_

His head snapped to the side. The fireflies were still in the jar. He hadn't let them go. But…Panic set in. He had to figure this out. Dib ran a hand down his face, thinking a thousand thoughts at once. He sat down in his computer chair and woke up the monitor. His search was still open from yesterday. 'Revenge of the_' he had to figure this out. The whispers came from everywhere.

An idea struck him. But, the thought terrified him. Hands shaking he typed anyway. '_Revenge of the fireflies._' The book popped up immediately, an ancient Greek tomb of black magic. Someone had been using this book, using it to cast a spell back in the forest, in that clearing. Fireflies…that meant that…

He looked over at the jar. The bugs were dimmer than they had been several hours ago. Dib needed to figure out just what kind of spell this was, how to reverse it. He found the book on EBAY (surprisingly enough) and quickly bought out anyone else who might've been trying to bid on it. He gave the seller extra money as an incentive to have it shipped within 24 hours. It paid off to be the son of a world famous scientist.

Now all he could do was wait…Dib rubbed his eyes. He was so tired. The urge to sleep ran bone deep. He sat down on his bed, avoiding looking at the scratched symbols and laid down. He waited for unconsciousness. And waited. Only it never came. Every time he felt his eyelids droop close, those whispers would jar him awake.

After an hour of lying with no results, he felt exhausted and angry and scared. Dib sat up and jerkily walked to the window. He grabbed the jar full of fireflies with their whispers. With the other hand he opened the window. Dib reared back to throw the jar.

_'Listen…'_  
_'It'll be okay…'_  
_'We can figure it out together'_

Dib couldn't, his arm wouldn't move. He wanted to explode at the seams. Their tinny voices filled his mind, pressing down the panic and prodding the anger, reminding him of how tired he was.

He somehow ended back on his bed, the jar of dying fireflies in his lap. The boy stared at the wall, knowing deep down that he needed to be doing something. That this wasn't normal. Something was very, very wrong. But, the whispers said everything was fine.

_'Remember what they've done to you…'_

Dib remembered being pushed around by his peers, shoved and spit on. They were jealous. He was running but, he'd fallen and twisted his ankle. They laughed. And laughed. At his ideas, his science project, at his hair and his glasses, about the stutter he'd had until he was 9. Then Zim came and they refused to see. How come no one could see? They were so blind, unable to even comprehend that there were wonderful and strange things outside of this normal bubble of a life. They didn't understand so they hated instead. Not even his father had seen the truth. Had ever seen the truth. They all thought he was insane. He wasn't. No. Far from it. The suppressed rage was bubbling in his stomach, spreading. He felt like he was on fire.

_'It's okay. They hurt us too. We can get back at them…'_  
_'Let us inside. Don't fight it.'_  
_'We can burn them all and then there will be no more pain, no more goodbyes.'_

Dib's breath hitched in the back of his throat. No. No. Wrong. So, wrong. This was very bad but, he couldn't care. Not when they said it would be okay. Dib held the glass jar a little tighter and watched as they dimmed a bit more. He was so tired.

The book came and he tried to read it but, it was in Greek and he can't read Greek so it's gibberish and even if he could, Dib was so tired that everything was blurry and he felt like the world was spinning.

The hours passed but, he had no idea what day it was. He never got the chance to find out since he was going in and out of consciousness. Tired. One time he woke up and he saw his bed and desk from above. Dib thought 'I'm on the ceiling' but, then it went dark again. Then he's writing, clutching a black marker and drawing those symbols over and over and over and.

Darkness. They say he'll be okay. That this darkness won't last for long. Soon everything will be bright, on fire and warm like the sun. Like their souls. Soon, everyone who hurt them will be ash. The world will burn and there will be no more goodbyes. No more pain. Then he could sleep forever.

"_They'll burn_." Dib murmured along with the whispers.

Three days. The human was absent from the school for 3 days. Add that onto the punching and the bandages on his fingers and the Dib was being seriously suspicious. Zim stared at the Membrane household from his spot in the bushes, waiting for some sort of sign. Of what, he had no idea. Gaz was in the living room. He could tell because of the TV light flashing and the purple head bent over the top of the couch.

Zim tapped his foot impatiently. He'd been here for over an hour (it was only like 20 minutes) and nothing had happened. This was getting him nowhere. Cautiously, he emerged from the bushes and ran across the street, around the side of the human's yard and scaled the house using his spider legs until he reached the Dib's window. It was open. Huh.

Zim slid inside and after brushing himself off, looked up for the boy. "Dib?" A shiver of uncertainty ran down his spine. The human wasn't there but, something had been. The place was a disaster. The walls were covered in black markings. Some sort of code. Like eyes and spirals and wonky numbers.

The same symbols were carved into the headboard of the boy's bed. Also on the bed was a jar. He picked up the container and looked inside; dead bugs. He shook it to see if it would rouse the insects. Nothing. Shrugging, he dropped it back where he found it and turned to explore the rest of the room.

Zim swallowed, nervously. The computer chair was knocked over onto its side. Papers were scattered everywhere. It was old parchment that looked like it had been torn from something bigger. He kneeled and picked up one of the pages. It was written in Greek. But, there were several of the same symbols that were written everywhere. He let go the paper and kicked junk out of his way. He found the boy's backpack and dumped everything out on the floor.

The usual stuff; ghost hunting equipment, school books, gum packets, water bottle, some dollars which Zim shoved in his boot. There was the human's so called 'case book', where he wrote down stuff about_ him_ no doubt. He opened and flipped through it, carelessly, searching for his own name. A piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the floor. Zim bent and picked it up, opening it.

'_Your soul is bright. We are also bright. We can be friends_.' And below it were some coordinates. Zim grunted and walked over to the boy's computer. He could kill two burps with one stone or however that phrase went.

Zim sabotaged all the Dib's files and then googled the coordinates. Hmm. Could this be where the human went or was it some other stupid thing? He tapped his chin in thought. This entire thing sent a shiver down his spine. There was something wrong. He unconsciously touched the bruise on his face where the human had punched him. His enemy was up to something. It was up to Zim to figure out what it was.

He took the voot cruiser and landed in his destination. It wasn't hard to spot though. Not when the tops of the trees were on fire. Zim climbed out of the ship and looked around, uneasily. It was hot. He whipped his forehead with his arm. Could the Dib really be here? Should_ he_ be here? Zim almost climbed back into the cruiser and got the hell out of there except, he saw a large path in the trees had been burned away. Something told him he should go that way. Reluctantly, he walked down the fire made path and noticed that some of the embers weren't embers at all but, bugs. Glowing bugs.

A tree fell down behind him and he screeched, running forward faster to get away from any other falling infernos. Suddenly there were tons of the bugs and he squinted. A black figure up ahead. The Dib! He was stalk still, staring at several large stone walls surrounding a tree that was, incredibly not on fire.

"Dib-stink! What are you doing here? Are you crazy?" Zim knew that would get a good reaction out of the boy. He hated being called crazy or insane. Strangely enough, the human said nothing. Zim finally got close enough, out of breath from running (although it was too hot to breathe properly. Not to mention the ash), to see the individual symbols on the rocks and tree. The same ones had been back in the human's room.

"Hey! Dib? Everything is on fire, why are you here? What kind of idiocy is this now?" No answer. Frustrated, Zim grabbed the boy's shoulder and turned him so they were face to face. "Are you listening to me, stink-brain?!" There was something off about that familiar face. It was vacant. The brown eyes were dull, with deep circles under them. He showed no response to Zim's presence. A shiver of fear ran through him. What is going on?

"Are your ear tubes broken!? Zim is talking to you!" He shook the human, hoping for a reaction, even a little one. "I demand your attenti—" Several things happened all at once; Dib's eyes lit up. Not like in surprise or happiness but, literally. They glowed.  
Like those bugs or like the fire that surrounded them, coming ever closer. The human's hand grabbed Zim's wrist. Hard. And the Dib spoke but, the voice that came out was layered. It was his enemy's but, it wasn't. There were thousands of tiny voices that spoke with him that came from all around, as well as a big, booming voice that controlled them all.

"Be quiet, fool. The boy is sleeping…" They echoed. Zim stared up into the bright light of Dib's eyes. "We wouldn't want to wake him." The fires returned with a new vengeance and Zim yelled in panic, yanking his hand away from the monster in his nemesis' body. The grip had begun to burn. "Would we?"

"Y-you…who are you?! Get out of the Dib!" Zim squeaked, shaking as he looked for a way out. This was bad. Bad, bad, bad. Something horrible had befallen his enemy. He thought about making a run for it, get out of here.

"It doesn't matter who I am." The monster replied, calmly with a thousand voices. "Just that I am here to end this world. We will burn it. Turn all the people who hurt us into ash and then there will be no more goodbyes, merely sleep and peace."

"Y-you want to destroy the earth?" Zim asked, hesitating. In the past, they'd always worked together to fight off anyone or anything that had threatened the earth. Without Dib, what could he do? "Well, you can't! The earth is mine to devastate! I claimed it for the irken armada and you will no—"Faster than Zim could blink he was thrown from his position. He flew backwards and hit a charcoaled tree, before dropping to the ground. With a groan, Zim sat up. The tree he'd hit made some very bad noises and he rolled out of the way just as it crashed to the ground in a fiery heap. Zim leapt to his feet, despite the protest of his back, into a fighting position.

"I-I mean it! Let the Dib go or I'll…" What could he do? The monster laughed as if it could sense the irken's hesitation, the fires around them roared ever brighter and the glowing insects flew in circles.

"You'll what? I can see his memories, you know? You're pathetic. A failure as an invader. You can't even walk without fucking up." The boy's eyes were blinding and that light seemed to seep into all the crevices in his face. It came out his nose and mouth and ears. Zim's breath caught in his throat. "How do you expect to challenge me? A being in control of the element of fire!?"

"Lies! Zim is the best invader our people have an-nd the Dib knows that. That's the reason he's my enemy." This was horrible. He should run. "And I'm not leaving without him, so you better get your ass out of there." He sounded pretty confident, but his knees were shaking. Zim grabbed them. Stop.

The Dib imposter laughed. "Maybe Dib doesn't want me to leave him, huh? I make him powerful. He's safe and sound, asleep with no nightmares. No one else ever cared for him. His family rejected him, his peers hated him. I'm making his life better. He's serving a superior purpose now. To end the suffering. To make sure no one has to ever say goodbye again."

Zim covered his mouth to cough. Breathing in all this ash wasn't good. "The Dib may not have stupid things like friends or a pathetic family unit, but he's got me! Why would he ever need anyone else? I've been there for years and we've fought together, and if you weren't in him right now we'd be kicking your butt." Zim took a couple, shaky steps towards the glowing human, who was rising off the ground; his smile was fading to a scowl. "So, stop with the bright lights and the fire and give me back the Dib."

The monster's face changed. The light played across the human's face and made all the shadows look lethal and sharp. He rose higher up into the air, baring his teeth. "Never!" The ground beneath Zim's feet exploded and he yelped, jumping across the clearing. He landed on his back, the air knocked out of him. Through the smoke he could see the Dib's hand reach out and there was a loud, booming sound. Zim felt sprays of soil as trees were literally torn from the ground, flaming and thrown far, far away to spread the fire.

"This world will burn!" The voices yelled. Zim swore he could see fire leaking from his enemy's mouth, steaming tendrils of flames covering the tips of his fingers.  
He stumbled to his feet. Whelp. They were doomed. The irken wheezed and looked around for the pathway to get out of here. Instead his eyes fell upon the stone slabs, with the lone unburnt tree. An idea struck him. One last idea.

Zim pulled out his spider legs to get him quicker across the clearing. Once he was in reach, he stabbed the trunk of the tree straight through with his metal appendage. From above him he heard a gasp.

"W-what?! What are you doing?! Stop!" Zim panicked. Yes, this must be it. It took a lot of effort to yank the leg back out, but eventually it slipped from the wood. He stabbed the trunk of the tree over and over again. Zim pulled out his laser gun just as a large ball of fire hit him, sending the alien toppling and sprawled several feet away. "I will destroy you, imbecile!" A second ball of fire descended on him. He managed to avoid it but, his uniform and antenna were scorched.

Zim frantically scrambled to his feet and shot at the stone tablets, one, two, three. The first one toppled, falling into crumbled pieces and there was a scream from above. He aimed for the one on the other side of the tree and managed to get off two shots before being kicked in the face. Zim cried and fell to the ground, eyes closed tightly against anymore pain. He groaned and grabbed his face, dropping the gun.

The impostor landed next to Zim and stomped as hard as he could on the alien's back, just below his pak. Zim gave out a harsh yell, muffled by the grass and the sound of roaring flames. He scrambled for the gun. Finally his fingers curled around the warm handle and he turned around onto his back, aiming the weapon at the monster.

"Go ahead." It whispered, with a grin of pure destruction on his face. "It won't kill me. Just him. And then you'll be rid of the savior of eart—" Zim kicked the monster in the shin, sending him backwards. "Ah! Hey!" The irken hopped to his feet and ran at the last tablet, shooting it frantically until it fell to the ground in a heap of rubble. All that was left was the tree. Zim aimed for the branches and blasted it. The heat from the laser set the leaves on fire. It quickly spread.

There was a layered pained scream from everywhere. Zim turned on his heel to face the enraged monster. It was on its knees, eyes wide and the glow slowly fading. The fires were dying and the fireflies began to drop, one by one.

"I-I'm…so…tired." The creature said, its tiny voices dying away until it was just the two; Dib and the booming beast. Trickles of glowing tears fell. "I won't…this can't be…goodbye." Zim walked over to the kneeling monster, unwilling to get too close, just in case it tried something stupid.

"Yeah, well it is…you just have to stop crying about it and move on." He said, wisely. The creature looked up at Zim, with the luminosity fading in its expression.  
"Will you…stay with…him?"

Zim stared in shock. A small flicker of light remained in its eyes as it waited for his answer. "Um…I… sure…?"

"Good." It whispered. The spark died in its eyes and the limp human fell to the ground, rid of the spirit. All the fires turned to embers and the last firefly flashed before it too hit the earth with no sound. All was quiet and calm again. The sound of running water and the forest rustling in the wind. Zim dropped his laser gun and sat down, cross legged next to the human. He was unsure of what to do now.

Zim examined himself and found that there were several holes in his uniform where the fire had burned through it. He would probably have some burns. He looked over at the Dib; breathing and limp. Zim poked his cheek but, got no response. With a bit of effort, he managed to turn the human over onto his back, then lifted an eyelid and found the same, dark brown color he'd become used to. Phew.

Zim waited about 30 minutes for the Dib to wake up but, when it didn't happen he got impatient and instead dragged the boy back to his voot cruiser. During the ride home, the human snored obnoxiously so he must be alright. Zim pulled the human out of the cruiser, up the front lawn pathway and rang the doorbell.

Gaz answered the door. She squinted at Zim then down at her brother, who appeared mostly unharmed, if covered in soot and ash. No reason to kill the alien. She gestured for him to come in. Grunting, Zim dragged the teenager to the living room and with no help from Gaz, threw him on the couch. He looked at the sister who was back to playing her game and scowled before marching back out the front door, leaving it wide open for all the bugs and cold air to get inside.

Zim got home and changed into his undershirt. He'd have to order a new uniform. Again. Ugh. The irken tossed the old, ruined one into the incinerator and flopped onto the couch with a soda that he chugged to get rid of the taste of ash in his throat. He tried not to think of his enemy, trapped and unable to do anything as a monster took over his body. Zim shivered despite the heat.

Dib woke up slowly. He blearily looked at his alarm clock, only to realize it wasn't there and that he wasn't in his bed but, on the living room couch. What happened? He swallowed and tasted ash. Grimacing, he padded into the kitchen and drank several glasses of water with hardly a breath in between each gulp. Then Dib devoured left over spaghetti. Only then was he able to actually think.

Okay, first thing's first. Body check. His fingers were still sore but, they'd mostly healed except for the ugly shape his nails were in. He threw the dirty bandages away. Other than a huge ugly bruise on his shin he was fine. Actually, he felt really good. He hadn't slept that well in…forever.

Next. Mind check. No whispers. No horrible anger or panic or fear. Dib walked up the stairs and into his room. His knees nearly gave out. The whole place was covered in those symbols.

"Oh fuck." The rarely used curse word, slipped past his lips and he ran a hand through his hair. He was going to have to repaint over it all. And get a new bed or something. There was a lot to clean up. Dib sighed and went to check on Gaz.

"Hey." He tapped at her bedroom door. A small growl was heard from inside seconds before several locks clicked and the door swung open.

"What." Gaz said, one hand still clutching her GameSlave3.

"Oh. Nothing. Sorry, I was just checking on you. I've been kind of…out of it these last couple days."

She raised a violet eyebrow. "You slept for 37 hours straight."

"I…yeah. I kind of was possessed by an angry fire spirit."

"Oh. Well, are you…?"

"Okay now. Yeah, fine."

"Mmph." She grunted. Dib ran a hand down his face and sighed.

"So um, how did I get home? The last thing I remember was walking to the forest."

"Zim." Had he heard that right?"

"Zim?"

"Yeah. He knocked on the door and had you with him, unconscious."

"Oh…okay?" He'd been possessed and for some reason the fact that his alien nemesis had…what? He obviously hadn't just brought him home. How was he here? Unposessed and in one piece? Had Zim actually figured out what was going on and saved him? "Thanks, Gaz." She grunted again and shut the door. As he walked back to his room, he heard the locks clicking back into place.

A bit more investigation of his ruined room, showed his backpack strewn everywhere. Several dollars were missing and his computer files of Zim had been deleted. Dib went into the recycle bin and restored them. The note with the coordinates and the message were next to his keyboard. So, the irken had been here.

He ripped up the piece of paper with those words ('Your soul is bright. We are also bright. We can be friends.') and tossed it in the trash bin. Might as well get started with putting some semblance of order back into his life.

Dib was glad it was the weekend because school was the last thing he wanted to think about. He spent the all of Saturday and most of Sunday, cleaning and repainting over the markings on his wall. With each line of symbols to disappear under blue paint, the better he felt. The jar of dead fireflies were thrown away, despite the small urge he had to keep and study them. He sanded the markings out of his headboard and painted the swollen eyeball logo over it. The book was put back together and kept locked up with his other spell tomes.

All the work allowed him to not think about the fact that Zim had saved him but, because his curiosity was too much, Dib knew he would eventually end up going over to ask the irken about what had happened.

So, after dinner, Dib walked with his hands in his pockets to Zim's house. He went through the gnome field easily, since he'd learned just where their lines of sight had to be to trigger an attack and knocked at the entrance.

The door swung open (after a couple second of incoherent noise from the other side) to reveal Zim in his 'at home' gear, as Dib had named it in his head. The irken didn't look surprised to see him, but he had probably checked who it was first.

"Space-boy."

"Big-Head."

It was silent for a few awkward seconds, in which the human wondered exactly how to go about-  
"Well this was great and all but, I have to get back to my 'destroy the world' plan soo…" Zim went to close the door. Dib put his foot in the frame so that he couldn't. With a haughty harrumph, Zim backed away and the human pushed inside.

"This is breaking and entering, yanno?"

"No it's not. You're technically letting me in." Dib pointed out.

"What do you want, Dib-thing?" Zim asked, crossing his arms. He wasn't pouting yet, but it could happen anytime. Dib ran a hand down the back of his neck and sighed.

"Well, I came to ask you some questions."

"About what?" Zim asked, suspiciously.

"About me being…possessed and crap. And you. Apparently rescuing me." He said the last part with some difficulty.

"How many questions?" He knew how overzealous the boy could get and didn't want his time wasted.

"Uh…3?"

"Does that count as a question?" Zim asked. Dib rolled his eyes.

"No." The irken sighed dramatically and flopped down onto the couch.

"Then, if you must. Get it over with."

Dib scowled at the theatrics. "Well…did you?"

"Did I what?" Zim asked, blankly. The human reminded himself to be patient with the moron.

"Save me?"

"Oh. Yes." Zim looked at his nails. Well, claws, more like.

"Okay. And do you mind if I ask…how? I'm a little fuzzy on, well everything." And Dib didn't not knowing.

"I noticed you were acting weird." They both knew he was talking about being punched in the hallway. "And then you were gone from school for three days." Three? Holy crap. He tried not to panic, he could easily make up whatever stupid work the teacher handed out.

"I went over to your house to investigate and found the freaky markings and the note in your journal. I went to the coordinates; everything was on fire and found you….kind of. "  
Dib bit his lip. This was the part he was interested in. "I tried to talk to you but, you didn't respond. And then I shook you and your eyes turned glowy and yellow and you had several voices…and I knew you weren't, well you."

Zim's brow furrowed with the memory. "We yelled and fought a bit and I destroyed the stone wall and tree thing and then you fell to the ground, cursing and…" Zim remembered how the monster had made him promise to stay with Dib, for some reason. "And then it died and you were alive but, not waking up so I took you to your house and left you there. End of story."

Dib was not surprised with the alien's subpar story telling. "Okay. Um. Final question: Why did you save me?" That was the one that had been eating him up inside. From the look on the alien's face it wasn't one he'd been prepared for.

"Uhh." His face scrunched up as he tried to come up with a reason. Not just for Dib but, for himself. It had been something like because the Dib was his enemy and he couldn't leave him in the hands of that thing but, that didn't make much sense did it? Or about how the monster could destroy the earth and it was his to devastate? Yes, that sounded better. "Because the monster wanted to set the world on fire and it's my job to do that?"

"Why did that sound like a question?" Dib wondered, raising an eyebrow.

Zim pointed at him, manically. "You've already used all three of your questions!"

Dib scoffed and wished he could roll his eyes super hard to show off just how much he was done with the alien, instead he kind of just flung his arms about in exasperation. "Fine, fine."

"Now, if you're done being annoying," Zim stood up with a sniff. "I have work to do." He went to shove the human out of his house, Dib allowed it but just before the door closed he shoved his foot back into the frame.

"Zim?"

"What is it now, stink-brain?!" The alien asked impatiently. Dib swallowed hard, still faintly tasting ash.

"I…thanks." With that he removed his foot and left, not expecting his enemy to respond. Zim stared after the human in shock, watching him walk away down the block until Dib disappeared. With a not-so-angry growl, he shut the door.

**END**


End file.
